Thursday, April 20, 2017

Our easter blows!

My hair is airborne. Resenting it’s roots,
it beats my face relentlessly. Medusa, spaghetti wars, the wind’s bad influence
has made it all wild. I pry and pat and pull frantically, dragging strands from
my mouth, trying to enlist my ears as clips. It’s all to no avail.

This is ‘our easter’. Not to be confused
with the ‘other’ Easter; the Christian observance where a bloody cross is
dragged through the streets, nor the highly commercialized holiday where
children run around madly looking for eggs layed by a monstrous imaginary white
bunny. And where there are chocolates. Lots of chocolates.

Though here in Bimini on ‘That Easter’ we
did observe the massive cross being dragged up the one and only road that
connects the two tiny towns. This one had a wheel at the bottom though, so,
cheating really. We sat with the rest at Stuart’s Conch shack, our easter
blowing the sharp stench of rotting conch shells toward the merry makers who listened
to the local singer belt out his reggae versions of random songs. We all drank
beers and for the brave, the infamous local drink, ‘Bimini Knock Out Punch’.

No, our easter involves good old Mother
nature. She has a vengeance against the west. Not the ‘West’ which refers
loosely to countries like America, but in this case, down Florida way, she does
seem to be ceaselessly battering the eastern shore. And it has been weeks. And
we were there, trying to head east. In a sailboat. Doesn’t work so well.

Though we did choose a day, motivated by
visa concerns and the imagined worst case scenario involving coast guard and
cops, not wanting to ‘overstay our welcome’; we made the first crossing into
the Bahamas. And the ocean, wild and wavy, told us what it thought of that with
a big bitch slap of salty water, right up and over the helm. The instruments,
cockpit, even our indoor rug were all soaked. I stood there, dripping,
shivering, completely indignant. Yet as the sea tends to teach, there is no
time for self pity, I was changed and dried and back up at the helm for another
nine or ten hours trading off and on with JW before we reached the safe harbor
of North Bimini.

And here we are. Days and weeks have blown
by. And boy has it blown. Our easter blows constantly. She is not concerned
with the ‘one week off a year’ tourists up at the fancy rooftop pool of the
Hilton. Those whose cocktails are pushed over, making sticky puddles that are
then blown slowly across the fancy tiles… Where the infinity pool is splashing
all the wrong places. Where the umbrellas are packed away for safety concerns.

Our easter has zero concern for our
seasonal sailing plans, which involve leaving this tiny sliver of land and
heading east. Oops. East. Sorry sailors, claims our easter with a wink. You
won’t be going anywhere just yet! If you can keep your boat anchored without
dragging like some of your neighbors in the face of my wrath, you have
accomplished something! But sailing onward?! Ha!!! (She is heartless our
easter).

And so we are here, the little A on the map. On this tiny island, 7
miles long, by only 200 ft wide, with a population of roughly 300. Plus us.

The water is blue. The beers are cold. But
the wind, she blows.

We’ve had our first annual ‘talking heads’,
however due to prevailing conditions, it was not in a bay on a remote island,
but the huge hot tub of the Resorts World Bimini’s Hilton. We brought our own
beers, the wind was provided.

We did sneak out of the inlet one day to
investigate the Sapona, a massive concrete and steel wreck that was once a
famous rum runner in prohibition days. Now, a tourist attraction and man made
reef. But we had to retreat back to the relative protection of our bay. Our
easter so demanded.

The weather sites are predicting a lull in
the wind followed by a change of direction early next week. We’ll believe that
when we see it, or sail it!!! For now, it’s not so bad to be stuck here; we
found a Laundromat and refilled our propane tank. And we’ve got a beach and 5
pools to choose from. We can walk into town for cheaper beers and decent
grilled meat by the roadside.

We’ve heard the supply ship is coming from Miami
today, so there might be something fresher than moldy $5 avocados. It will be
the highlight of our day walking into town to investigate. Ok, maybe there will
be a sojourn in the hot tub after that. Life is pretty good despite our easter.
I just have to remember my hair ties!